Thia is way hard.....too many things about different flicks..
Das Boot is in there for sure.
Some movies are about war but not war movies and some of those have been spectacular.
I like the Yugo movie with Dennis Quaid recently....at least it gave the Serbs a fair shake...Savior...not great but good.
The Duellist...a period flick in the Napoleanic Wars but not a war movie.
Henry V....not a war movie but the St Crispins Speech and Agincourt scenes are incredible.
I liked Tora Tora Tora better than Midway personally.
Speaking of which(Japs)...and Kurosawa war-epic is worth snagging if you don't mind sub-titles.
The Longest Day simply for the pagentry and cast.
Cross of Iron...Steiner bump!
Patriot/Braveheart....dramas in wars.
Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers/ gripping realism
The Wild Geese....what a cast...Roland The Thompson Gunner bump!
I loved Gods and Generals but it is a very long movie....the performance of the actor playing Stonewall Jackson is incredible.
I have never seen the old silent Napolean movie but I hear that it is a masterpiece of effort.
This is the impossible list...Zulu Dawn , Larry of Arabia....
I wish someone would do a proper film on Simon Bolivar...his back and forth treks across the Andes and GranColombia are epic enough for the big screen and have never been done.
I always liked Gregory Peck as Hornblower for old ship's war movies....the series last year was fun too.
There was an interesting movie a few years ago called Ride with the Devil about the Missouri guerrilla war....great horseback pistol scenes..
enough.
The wild geese was good "movie" but when I watch a movie I wan't to see some realism. Maybe it had enough but I didn't like Richard Harris then or now so I didn't watch it but once. One reason I never listed The Green Berets with Marion Morrison. When I couldn't find an M16 like old Johns that I never had to reload when I joined the service I was pissed.........:o)
Just like the recent Tears of the Sun flick. When old Bruce went off mission and didn't bag an gag that whining big itch and throw her ass on the helo I thought pop her with 10cc's in the butt and debate later or shoot Bruce and let NCO take over the mission. But mooooooovie was the reason we were watching.
Platoon had some of the fear factors in it at the end during the final battle scenes. Albeit not a war flick per se the old Gary Cooper movie where he went to get the 6 or 7 Medal of Honor troops and return them to the US. That had a lot of "realism" . As did the movie with Robert Taylors Battaan and They Were Expendable with John Wayne. The improvised hodge podge make do scenes reflect history as I have only read it and experienced it during my service career in more modern times.
One of my favorite reads was a book called "40 miles a day on beans and hay". And a turn of the century old officers manual I have in my possession. Thus Ft Apache and she wore a yellow ribbon portrayed a lot of tradition and actual procedures I found in that old officers manual.
Raid on Entebbe with Charles Bronson was very good IMO as I remember reading the press as the event happened. Course the IDF didn't tell all I pretty sure but it was very close as I remember it.
Thanks for the list of your favorites guys . Some I haven't seen and will look for based on your recommendations.
Stay Safe !